E. Warren Perry, Jr.

Video of Warren Perry reading from Swift to My Wounded at the National Portrait Gallery

September 4, 2009 - Ben Bloom of the National Portrait Gallery just completed and posted the following video of Warren Perry reading from his recently published play, Swift to My Wounded: Walt Whitman and the Civil War. The reading took place in the galleries of the NPG.

If you are having difficulty viewing this clip, click here to go to the Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35k-ZweitEY

Article in CHICAGO SUN-TIMES about Ekphrasis

August 7, 2009. Check out the fantastic article in today's Chicago Sun-Times (Stage section - Curtain Call) by reporter Mary Houlihan. Warren was interviewed about his new play Ekphrasis: Cave Walls to Soup Cans, produced by Sideshow Theatre Company and opening at the Viaduct Theatre in Chicago on August 13.

Here is the link to the full article: 'Ekphrasis' frames great art in a new light: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Stage

Come see the show if you are in Chicago!

Ekphrasis: Cave Walls to Soup Cans opens August 13 in Chicago

      

Join us in seeing Warren's newest play, Ekphrasis, at the Viaduct Theatre in downtown Chicago. Sideshow Theatre Company's Megan Smith is directing the comedy with a high-energy, fine Chicago cast. We are so excited to see the final product in just a couple of weeks! 

Sideshow has a website devoted to the show, with details about tickets, cast, and more: www.ekphrasisplay.com.

Click here to buy tickets now!

We'll keep the site posted with more information after the opening.

Rehearsals have begun in Chicago for Ekphrasis: Cave Walls to Soup Cans!

 

We're excited to announce that Warren's new full-length play Ekphrasis has begun rehearsals at the Sideshow Theatre Company in Chicago. The show will open on August 13, 2009 at the Viaduct Theatre (3111 N. Western Ave, Chicago, IL) and will run through September 20. Ticket information is on the Viaduct Theatre website on their upcoming schedule. Friend and fellow CUA alum Megan Smith is directing the comedy with a professional Chicago cast.

We'll update with more information as the show progresses. We're thrilled to be working with Sideshow this summer. We hope you can make it to Chicago to see the show - we know it's going to be hilarious.

From Sideshow:

The history of art spans millions of years. This fall, Sideshow Theater Company fits it into 90 minutes.

 

Join us on a slightly condensed and always irreverent journey through the history of art, on a mission to understand exactly where art comes from and our human desire to create. Who really designed the pyramids? What put that smile on the Mona Lisa's face? Why wouldn't Whistler let his mother pose nude? Nopiece of artwork is sacred as Sideshow explores the conversations between artist, subject and self from cave men sketching on the walls in France to Warhol confronting his can of Tomato Soup.  Get the story (some fact and some fiction) on some of the world’s most iconic images, delivered by the company of magicians, freaks andgeeks that brought you the critically acclaimed Dante Dies!! (and then thingsget weird) and Everything Freezes: another winter's tale.

"This is not the truth - it is only the story." 

Swift to My Wounded: Walt Whitman and the Civil War, written and adapted by E. Warren Perry, Jr.

In honor of Walt Whitman's 190th birthday, on May 31, 2009, please view the opening scene of "Swift to My Wounded: Walt Whitman and the Civil War," presented on March 5, 2007 at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. This scene is a preamble to Whitman's testimony of his experiences during the war. The entire show runs approximately one hour and twenty minutes; this scene is approximately seven minutes long. The publication of "Swift to My Wounded" will go on sale soon in the bookstore at the National Portrait Gallery.

If you are having difficulty viewing the video above, click this link to download the video: Swift to My Wounded short clip

Talent-Free Bird, a new short play, to be presented by Journeymen Theater Ensemble, Washington DC

February 23 - Warren's newest short play, Talent- Free Bird,  will be presented by Journeymen Theater Ensemble  as part of Chekhov's Shorts, an evening of readings and adaptations of the short stories of Anton Chekhov, directed and performed by Journeymen's Artistic Associates. 

Talent-Free Bird features Jenny Donovan, Matt Dewberry, Matt "Slice" Hicks, and Daniel Vito Siefring, and is directed by David Binet.

Monday, February 23, 7:30 - 10:30 pm

Church Street Theatre, 1742 Church Street, NW, Washington, DC (admission is pay what you can)

Swift To My Wounded performances at the National Theatre, Washington, DC on October 20

On Monday, October 20 at 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm there will be two performances of Swift to My Wounded: Walt Whitman and the Civil War at Washington, DC's National Theatre, written and adapted by Warren Perry and featuring DC actor and director Bill Largess as Whitman.

Commissioned by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery to honor Whitman's legacy, Swift to My Wounded was produced by the NPG's Cultures in Motion program, in collaboration with The Catholic University of America. The play was created to complement One Life: Walt Whitman, a kosmos, an inaugural exhibition for the reopening of the National Portrait Gallery in July 2006 after six years of closure for renovation.

Whitman's long history in Washington, DC included working briefly for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Old Patent Office Building at 9th and F Streets in Washington, now the home of the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Patent Office Building later served as a hospital during the Civil War, where Whitman served as a volunteer nurse caring for sick and injured Union soldiers. Swift to My Wounded creates a moving portrait of Whitman's Civil War experience, his thoughts on Abraham Lincoln, and his poetic work.

Performances are free, but seating is limited. For more information click here for the link to the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Information: 202-628-6161

Swift to My Wounded will be published by the Smithsonian this fall; this website will be updated with the exact date soon. Further announcements regarding a book signing with playwright Warren Perry will also be forthcoming!

Short play to be performed at Yellow Taxi Productions 2008 Gala November 8

Nashua, New Hampshire - Saturday, November 8, 2008. A short political play by Warren Perry will be performed at the 2008 fundraising Gala for Yellow Taxi Productions, along with works by David Preece and Deb Matson. Yellow Taxi, run by Artistic Director and fellow CUA alum Suzanne Delle, also produced Warren's play Lanterns on Lamar in March 2006.

For ticket and venue information, go to www.theatermania.com or www.cityartsnashua.org.  

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery presents Hepburn Herself, written and adapted by Jewell Robinson and Warren Perry

Monday, May 12, 2008 - on what would have been Ms. Hepburn's 101st birthday - the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery presented an encore performance of Hepburn Herself, a play produced by NPG's Cultures in Motion Series. Created to  complement the National Portrait Gallery's One Life exhibition: "KATE: A Centennial Celebration," Hepburn Herself was performed in March to a crowd of over 300 people, and an equally large and enthusiastic audience was on hand Monday evening. The performance featured NPG’s Jewell Robinson and Washington, DC actress Helen Hedman as Katharine Hepburn and included a discussion afterwards with Robinson, Hedman, director Michael Kramer, and writer and adapter Warren Perry. 

To read more about Katharine Hepburn and the NPG exhibition, go to the Portrait Gallery's blog, Face to Face.

Thanks to Sideshow Theatre for a terrific performance of Warren Perry's Lanterns on Lamar

We were thrilled to be able to attend the performance of Lanterns on Lamar at the Lincoln Square Theatre in Chicago on March 31. Director Megan Smith led a funny and accomplished cast in a smart, hilarious, and fast-paced performance. We are incredibly grateful to Megan and all of the talented actors for creating such a memorable and enjoyable show. We are hoping that Megan will have the opportunity to direct a full production of Lanterns soon!

Megan is a woman of many skills, not the least of which is serving as business manager for the Sideshow Theatre Company in Chicago, which also consists of Artistic Directors Matt Fletcher and Jonathan Green and Literary Director Walt McGough. They have asked Warren to be an Artistic Associate for the company, and he was honored to accept! Click here to check out the Sideshow Theatre Company's cool new Artistic Associate page. Thanks Jonathan, Matt, Walt, and Megan for a great experience!